More rebate in income-tax, bringing down rates of essential commodities, better health and educational infrastructure and a robust public transport system and better security at public places is all that the Delhiites are expecting from Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, who will present his third Budget in Parliament on Monday. Even chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has urged him to increase the Budget allocation of Delhi by Rs 5,000 crore for better services.
A majority of Delhiites this newspaper spoke to were of the view that the income-tax rebate should be substantially increased. A South Delhi resident said that several limits in the tax law have not been reviewed for long and it was high time that these were now revised to keep up with the growing inflation and rise in taxes. At present, the government gives tax exemption of up to Rs 1.5 lakh a year on various investment instruments such as public provident fund, five-year tax-free deposits, equity-linked saving schemes and unit-linked insurance plan.
The salaried class hoped that the finance minister would increase the personal IT exemption limit and announce a higher deduction limit on home loan interest.
With the increasing cost of living, many felt that the current basic exemption limit of Rs 2.5 lakh should at least be raised to Rs 3.5 lakh.
Stressing on the need to rationalise direct taxes for the middle class segment, Pramod Akula, CEO and principal consultant in Matrix, said, “Domestic production and investment in manufacturing needs a big step forward. Agriculture produce marketing needs to get a focus. Since middle class is feeling pressure of high cost of living so direct taxes need to be rationalised for this segment. Service tax is a huge source of government revenue and base should be expanded, however, rates need to be rationalised.”
Agreeing with Mr Akula, an employee of a private firm, Nishant Bhardwaj, said: “The tax slab should be increased and the government should take a decision over the retail rates in foreign direct investment (FDI). The Central-state fund issue should be solved and there should be an increase in the education fund this year.”
Expressing serious concern over the rising crime graph, a middle-aged woman said the Centre should allocate more money to the Delhi police so that it can equip its personnel to meet the growing challenges concerning the force.
“The government should provide facilities to junior rank police personnel. Also, they should be equipped better to deal with criminals.”
A student of the Delhi University said that the government should allocate more funds for opening technical institutions.
